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Sunday, October 2, 2011

Milestone Mania!

I have meant to do a post updating the recent progress the babies have made ever since we got home from our trip. They are passing milestones faster than I can record them. For my own record, I better write the ones I can remember down before any more time passes and I forget! WARNING: This is long, just scroll to the bottom if you are interested in pictures.

Eating: The babies have left stage one foods behind and are now eating solely stage two foods. This means fruits and vegetables that have more than one ingredient. They have really been enjoying the variety! Some examples of foods they eat now are: Corn and Sweet Potatoes, Banana Orange Medley, Pear Cinnamon and Oatmeal, Apple Mango and Rice Cereal, Mixed Vegetables, Apricot with Mixed Fruit, etc. We have also introduced yogurt into the babies' diet which they LOVE and eat every morning with breakfast. We now eat solids three times a day following this pattern:

We have also switched from level 2 bottle nipples to level 3 bottle nipples for a much faster feeding time! In terms of snacks we recently introduced juice on occasion in sippy cups and baby puffs. The babies practice holding their own sippy cup and picking up the puffs to feed themselves.

Our pediatrician said that they can start to eat pureed meats at 8 months old, so we look forward to introducing chicken, turkey, and beef in a couple of weeks!

Teething: Brady broke his first tooth (bottom front) at 6 1/2 months old, a week before our trip, and broke the second bottom front tooth while we were on the trip. He now has his two bottom front teeth. Chloe started to break both of her bottom front teeth (at the same time!) at a little over 7 months old. They are still in the process of coming through, but I believe they will be fully through in another week. So each baby now has two teeth!

Talking: Both babies can say their consonant sounds "da", "ma", and "ba". They have been able to do this for several weeks, not sure exactly when it started. Chloe is still our chatter box and favors the sound "da da" but she will make varied sounds in general a good portion of the day. Brady can say all his consonant sounds too but is not as frequent of a talker as Chloe.

Sitting: Brady started to sit up on his own in early September when we were on our trip home. Chloe started to sit up by herself shortly after we returned home. This has opened up a whole new world for us as well as the babies. Now they are able to sit on a blanket on the floor and play with their toys on their own. We were also able to take them out in their stroller strapped in without their carseats! They now can sit in high chairs at restaurants (no more lugging heavy car seats inside!). We took them out grocery shopping with them sitting up in the grocery cart for the first time today! We used to have to take the stroller in with us. It was a lot of fun for them to be able to sit up and look around at everything and everyone. We now even do storytime with them sitting up on the bed!

Playing: Now that they can sit up, a funny thing has happened at playtime. The babies play! Before, playtime was sort of a passive activity for the babies. They watched me interact with the toys and would occasionally shake a rattle or try to put something in their mouths. Now, they do not need me to demonstrate how to play, they actively reach for toys and come up with ways to play with them on their own. It is the most adorable thing to watch as you can see the little lightbulbs going off in their heads, "if I do this, than that happens!".

Whew! Glad to finally get that all down! Congrats to you if you made it this far! Now for some pictures.

Proudly sitting up in the grocery cart for the first time!

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Grocery shopping was a lot easier and fun for everyone without the stroller!

Enjoying a Sunday morning stroll to Starbucks sitting up in the stroller (no car seats!)

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A fall evening walk in our stroller. Boy do we like being able to sit up and see everything!